It’s the first day of a new year, a time when there is much talk about making New Year’s Resolutions. There are many people with advice on: how to do it right; on whether or not any of the resolutions we do make will even last very long; or whether it even matters any more to make resolutions at all.
What made it easier for me this year was that I had already spent the past month or so, with pen and paper, figuring out what I wanted to do differently for the upcoming “unprecedented” economic environment that we’ve been told awaits us.
Yes, I agree, for me and maybe for many of us, this will be a year of going back to basics.
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Often the most important advice given to bloggers, writers, or anyone in social media (and probably in business, too) is to be helpful.
Whether you believe in good karma or not, it is not often disputed that if you are helpful to others without expecting anything in return, you’ll be surprised at what does come back to you in return. If your intent is the opposite, you may still get results, but more than likely not the same as if you did otherwise.
For me, the tricky part is in knowing what other people find helpful. Being helpful means different things to different people. There are many ways to be helpful.
I would say that the extremes on the ’scale of helpfulness’, if you will, would probably range from being totally selfless to being totally selfish. If helpfulness were put on a scale, I would put the following fifteen ticks on that ruler (generally ranked here from better to worse, though I’m sure some of you might re-arrange the order somewhat):
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We don’t always know what decisions people will make when times get tough for them. Some people flourish, some do not. This post is just to remind The Jaded Buyer and The Jaded Seller to avoid “Quick and Easy” and instead believe in the value created by ”putting in hard work” despite the temptation out there to do otherwise.
When people are short for cash, it is not uncommon for them to choose to do “whatever it takes” to turn that situation around. For some people that means working extra hard, yet for others that could mean “taking advantage of others”. Both paths may even succeed in acheiving financial goals in the short run. That is why financial goals should not be your only goals. Differentiate yourself by providing trust and value for the long-run.
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Clearly we can not expect to approach the amount of change we currently face by relying on our old way of thinking about things. Our old mindset is no longer working.
Everywhere you turn, there is talk of change. I even started off planning on writing about this upcoming change. That’s when it occurred to me. I was surprised to find that everything I was writing down, regarding change, could just as appropriately be grouped under a heading of “personal responsibility”.
So, below is a list of eight observations about the kind of a mindset that I believe we will need to adopt in order to learn from our past and to successfully navigate the upcoming structural changes we all will be (or already are) facing.
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Does having a positive outlook during tough times really change anything? Granted that a positive attitude alone doesn’t change anything (i.e., it is just one ingredient in the equation), yet I do believe that not having a positive outlook will certainly make the struggle to dig yourself out of trouble much harder than necessary, too.
Clearly, choosing to be stressed, resentful and angry isn’t going to help you. In good times or bad, being negative will almost always make things more difficult than need be, both in the short- and long-run, i.e., by likely affecting our health (e.g., diet, sleep-patterns, blood-pressure levels, etc.), the quality of the decisions we make , the options we perceive being available to us, as well as the quality of our relationships with the people around us.
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Is Conventional Wisdom good or bad? I would say: “it depends on the circumstances.” I tend not to describe things as being only “black or white” anyway. I often see things in shades of gray. There seems to always be extremes and exceptions, or a new combination of elements finally coming together in just the “right” or “wrong” way, that theories just can’t blindly be applied in the same way every time, e.g., what’s good for one person, isn’t always good for all people.
On the other hand, there are those “hard and fast” rules and laws that can seem to be more absolute. For example, if we all follow the “rules of the road” when driving, order is maintained. The system works quite well. But there, too, is were we begin to see those gray areas of “lawful” versus “ethical”, e.g., is it really okay to speed just a little, especially if everyone else does it, too?
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Isn’t it great when you attend an event and it greatly exceeds your highest expectations for it? Last weekend’s Empowerment Retreat did exactly that for me.
Right from the beginning, when I first arrived and opened the window of my air-conditioned car, I was gently greeted by the natural scent of pine trees in the serenity of the YMCA camp where this event took place. Not overcrowded, and nicely situated away from the day-to-day hassles of everyday life, there was an intimate feel right from the start.
At first I didn’t know what to expect. Most of the speakers slated to present at this event, I had not heard of before, yet I had high hopes just from having read their posted biographies. They did not disapoint. The event’s organizer, Carson Tang, can certainly be trusted to bring together a great set of quality speakers and attract a great audience of like-minded folks.
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I’ve always known that Ethics can get complicated and many times falls into a big gray area.
And, I personally place honesty and integrity quite high on my list of values. Yet, I’m surprised to be finding more and more people raising arguments to justify why it’s okay to get close to crossing the line on ethics. And, I’m starting to wonder if I might not need to be more flexible in my judgements of people that do flirt with or actually cross that line.
Intentions do make a difference. If someone does something wrong (and, of course, that is all relative, too), but if it is done out of ignorance or out of good intentions, then that should be taken into consideration in our evaluation of that behavior.
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In this new “era of social media” (as per PNI), we are being given the opportunity to show up (as per Mari Smith):
- consistently
- transparently
- authentically
- genuinely
- with a win-win attitude
- adding value
- as a thought leader
This is occurring in social media which has its own ‘unspoken rules of conduct’, or ‘etiquette’, and ‘protocols’…one that isn’t open to aggressive marketing tactics and is more about trust and relationship-building.
Could this new social media era have an influence on the more traditional business world?
I’ve put together my thoughts on the subject in the following article: “Building a Business That Customers Can Trust“.
Take the Business Ethics Pledge
Become An Influencer for Ethical Business
I pledge allegiance, in my heart and soul, to the concepts of honesty, integrity, and quality in business. I recognize that the cornerstone of success is treating all stakeholders fairly, with compassion, and with a commitment to service. Working from abundance, I recognize that even my competitors can become important allies. I will not tolerate crooked practices in my business, from co-workers, direct or indirect reports, supervisors, managers, suppliers, or anyone else–and if I encounter such practices, I will refuse to go along with them and report them to appropriate authorities within and outside the company. I pledge to support the “triple bottom line” of environmental, social, and financial responsibility. And I pledge to participate in a serious effort to focus the business community on these principles, by sharing this message with at least 100 other business leaders.
What do you think? If these Pledge organizers are able to get 25,000 Influencers to sign and live this pledge, what difference do you think that might make? I’m sure we wouldn’t want to limit this to just business either. Let’s include government officials and the
medical community in the mix, too!
I thought the phrase, “with knowledge comes responsibility”, would make an interesting concept to write about.
Finding the source of this phrase has been a challenge. I didn’t find much in Google, then as per the Yahoo! Answers site and also then confirmed through the ChaCha.com question-answering service, I was surprised to get back the following:
It seems as this is a bit of common sense that has become commonplace speech. It was last popularized by Spiderman.
I certainly expected a more prominent citation, such as the
Quoteland forum references to similar quote with ‘power’ and ‘responsibility’ said by Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, and Abraham Lincoln.
While I have never been much of a Superhero fan, maybe those characters portrayed a more positive sentiment that I realized. Similar to the theme of: “Truth, Justice and the American Way”, as Superman was known for, maybe we need a new Superhero for our current economic, financial, and political environment.
Clearly we are losing our way. For example:
How is it that a politician’s patriotism can be questioned because he doesn’t where a flag lapel pin? And, how can anyone even question that as being a potential political vulnerability?
Is that the American Way?
I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
-Edward Everett Hale
